"Really seeing the benefits" - Reece McLaren on working with John Wayne Parr at Boonchu Gym before ONE 158

Reece McLaren has moved to Boonchu Gym to train under John Wayne Parr ahead of his bout at ONE 158.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the 30-year-old revealed that he’s already reaping the rewards of working with Parr and his camp:

“I’ve been with Boonchu now since I think October,” he said. “I was scheduled to fight earlier this year, [but] had a bit of a health scare. So now being two fight camps deep at Boonchu, I’ve really been able to submerge myself in their form of training and I’m really seeing the benefits of it at the moment."

This will be McLaren’s first bout in over a year, and he hopes to resume his climb up the rankings by stopping the surging Xie Wei in their main event matchup.

Honing his striking with one of the best in the business will undoubtedly help ‘Lightning’ fulfill his goal, especially with a specialist like Parr. Xie won 11 of his 16 fights by knockout, while McLaren has 8 submissions in his 14 wins.

Adding the striking skills he gained in Boonchu and learning how to defend against them could be the key to his victory on Friday.

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John Wayne Parr to corner Reece McLaren in Singapore

John Wayne Parr is back in Singapore for the first time since his epic battle with Eduard Folayang at ONE X earlier this year.

However, he won’t be lacing gloves this time around and will instead have pads on his hands for Reece McLaren as they get ready for the Australian’s matchup against Xie Wei at ONE 158 on Friday.

Parr shared his excitement on Instagram as he hyped McLaren’s upcoming bout. ‘The Gunslinger’ also took the opportunity to take photos with main event fighters Tawanchai PK.Saenchai and Niclas Larsen.

In the caption, Parr said:

“Excited to be back in Singapore with @reecelightning91 who is fighting this Friday on @onechampionship. Reece is on the main card in a mma fight against Chinese fighter Xie Wei who is 14-3. So many great fights on the card with the main event @tawanchay_pk taking on @niclasrlarsen.”

Parr’s signature smile was on full display as he once again channeled his inner fanboy while posing for the photos.